New SNIA Certifications Offer Hands-On Learning

The Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) will offer several new certifications as part of its Education Continuum Strategy to create standardized certification and educational opportunities on a global scale for IT professionals interested in pursuing careers in storage networking.

The certification exam structure revolves around domains, concepts, standards, solutions and products, and expands beyond the fiber channel technology that was a primary focus of previous exams. “With the new program we’re targeting a wider audience of IT and storage professionals who want to validate their skills and knowledge in regard to storage administration, storage management, implementation, integration, technical assessment, planning and design,” said Peter Manijak, education director, SNIA. “We’re focusing on job roles based on job-task analysis findings within domains such as storage manager, storage administrator, implementation specialist, system integrator and solutions architect.”

The new SNIA certifications are available worldwide through Thomson Prometric testing centers. Passing the new SNIA Storage Network Foundations exam #S10-100 garners successful candidates the SNIA Certified Professional credential, which is required for all other SNIA credentials. This exam is essentially the entry-level point for people who are looking to be certified in storage networking and covers a wide array of topics including basic storage technology, virtualization, IP storage, FC, continuity management and storage management. You can visit http://www.snia.org/education/certification for a detailed list of the testing objectives. There is also a transition policy posted online for those who currently hold SNIA certifications. Those interested can find out where they stand or what exactly is needed to get the new credentials.

“We’re also integrating with vendor program credentials as well,” said Manijak. “In order to receive the SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E) you have to pass a concepts exam, a solutions exam, a standards exam and one credential from a vendor program. We’re working with the different vendor programs to select them. At the same time, we’re looking at vendor companies incorporating our exams into their programs. For instance, in the past McData has used a couple of our exams as part of their program, and we look for that to continue.”

For the new SNIA Certified Systems Engineer (SCSE) credential, a candidate is required to pass one exam in the standards domain and one exam in the concepts domain. SNIA Certified Architect (SCA) requires passing one exam in the solutions domain and one exam in the concepts domain. “We’ll be able to have multiple exams within the domains as the program grows and emerging technologies become standardized. The new exams will target specific roles. For instance, the standards domain will target the professionals who manage, administrate or implement. The solutions exam will focus on the solutions architect. Since the foundational material will be covered in the concepts exams, the standards and solutions exams will be shorter in length than in the past and more focused for the target audience. As always, staying vendor-neutral is a key component. In the standards area, we’re looking to update the fiber channel exam this fall, and we’ll also be looking at an IP storage exam later in 2004 or early 2005.”